Many tourist companies are launching promotions or reducing the price of
domestic tours by 2-3 million VND (95-140 USD), according to travel
agencies.
The HCM City-based Saigontourist travel company has launched a promotion for domestic tours until the end of May.
Many travel companies have co-operated with the local budget airline
Vietjet Air to lower the price of package domestic tours to the northern
region by 30-38 percent.
Benthanhtourist travel
company has reduced prices of domestic tours by 2.2-2.7 million VND. The
price of a six-day package tour to the northwest, eastern and western
regions, which will depart from HCM City in March and April, is around
9-11 million VND.
Fiditour travel company also has a
promotion which will last until April 23, with prices of tours reduced
up to 800,000 VND for the central region and up to 1.5 million VND for
the northern region.
In addition, many customers who
book domestics tours have a chance to win presents from travel agencies
with total prizes of more than 1 billion VND (48,000 USD), such as a
Vespa LX 125 scooter, Ipad 2 and Iphone 4s, among others.
According to Doan Thi Thanh Tra, manager of the marketing department
of Saigontourist, the prices of many domestic tours are reasonable.
Yet many foreign tours to destinations in the Southeast Asia region,
including Thailand and Cambodia , are still very popular.
Despite the economic slowdown, the number of booked foreign tours has
surged recently, including tours to Europe and the US , she said.
In the first two months of this year, more than 2,000 customers booked
tours to Thailand at Saigontourist, an increase of 10 percent over
the same period last year.
At Vietravel, the number
of customers that booked tours to Thailand in the first two months
of this year reached 5,500, a rise of 15 percent compared to the
corresponding period of last year.
International
destinations that saw a surge in booking include Malaysia, an increase
of more than 100 percent compared to last year; Malaysia and Singapore,
40 percent; Cambodia, 43 percent; the Republic of Korea and the US, 300
percent; and Australia, 87 percent.
The high prices
of domestic tours have made it difficult for the local tourist industry
to compete with the tourism industry of other countries.
According to travel businesses, the inbound and domestic segments have brought the most profits for the country's economy.-VNA